With an alle carte buffet, the dishes change daily. You can either order a set meal or just pick and choose from what’s on offer. The first time we ate at Govinda, Sebastian and I shared the Indian buffet for two.

We received two curries, one with mixed vegetables and one with potatoes and eggplant, saffron rice, dal, a samosa, two tempura eggplant slices, 1 roti, 1 parantha, two chutneys and two mango lassies.

Wow, were we stuffed!

This meal was so good that we came back once more before leaving Hungary. Although I didn’t get a photo of the meal, everything the second time around was different but equally as delicious!

Sebastian and I both opted for a hummus plate. He had a beer with his meal and I went for a mint lemonade which was really refreshing on such a hot day.

I couldn’t decide which toppings to get with my hummus plate so went for the option that offered everything. My favorite toppings were the falafel and spiced kidney beans.

The plates were served with hot pita bread. Needless to say, we left this meal feeling very full and happy.

My friend, Josh, would love Budapest because every restaurant seemed to have a comprehensive menu of Belgian beers. If you’re not up for the high alcohol content, don’t worry, you can always get a coke, juice or water.

Fruit stalls are spotted all over the city, especially near main train stations and metro stops.

One of the more decadent (read expensive) treats I had while in Budapest was a fancy gelato.

Fancy because it was formed into the shape of a rose.

It looked and tasted great.

The main food attraction in Budapest has to be the Great Market Hall.

With produce, meat, fish, grains and spices, this building has been a a one-stop shop for fresh food since the early 1900s.

On the second floor of the market hall, across from the textiles, you can find the food stalls.

It was here that I had my one and only “traditional Hungarian” meal, a langos.

Basically a deep-fried dough topped with sour cream and cheese, this may be traditional, but I found it disgusting.

Sorry, Hungary, but I simply couldn’t eat this.

Oh well, being in new places is all about trying new things. I’m glad I tried a langos, but am happy to never eat one again.

Luckily, there was lots of beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables to drool over.

Wandering through the isles of produce was a great way to get to know the food culture of Hungary.

On this 4th of July, I’m looking forward to the 5th and 8th. On these two dates, friends and past roommates will arrive in Germany.

My friend Christina arrives tomorrow and will stay until the 7th, then my friend Katie will arrive on the 8th.

Katie and I will be traveling and hiking through France for 5-7 days. Our plans are not fixed, but I’ve been busy attempting to arrange cheap travel with carpooling and couchsurfing. Once Katie is here, the real fun and planning will begin.

One recipe that screams America is banana bread.

Everyone needs a good banana bread recipe.

If you’re trying to avoid dairy or animal products for any reason, give this delicious vegan banana bread recipe a try.

Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1/2 cup crushed walnuts

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 ripe bananas

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2-4 Tablespoons soy milk, as needed to form a good consistency

Method

Mash the bananas with a fork. Add powdered sugar and oil to the mashed bananas and mix well.

After two weeks of rain, the skies finally cleared and the sun shone down on the park picnic.

It was a beautiful day, full of happy children, good food and time spent with friends.

Earlier this week I saw an adorable cookie monster cupcake idea on a new-to-me blog called applejacks. A few days later, Annie of Annie’s Eats wrote about the Sesame Street themed birthday party she threw for her son.

Inspired by both bloggers, I combined their ideas and created my own version of Sesame Street Cupcakes.

They were a hit, even with the Elmo-loving birthday boy!

Although these adorable cupcakes ended happily, they began with a very sad state of affairs.

My very first cupcake flop.

Although the recipe for funfetti cupcakes came from a website that I’ve used lots of times, for some reason, these cupcakes just didn’t work for me.

I’m not claiming that my contribution is an authentic Roman recipe, it’s more of a “What would Kendel make with the ingredients in a Roman kitchen.”

Whereas the Romans would have used cereal grains like spelt, I’ve used brown rice which has been cooked with shallots and vegetable stock. Although brown rice was unknown to the Romans, I thought it would help hold the leaves together.

I’ll top the prepared stuffed grape leaves with tomatoes tomorrow and bake them before serving.

Hopefully the kids will feel like they’re truly at a Roman feast.

I still had leftover lentils and brown rice once the leaves were all stuffed so ate the extra stuffing as dinner.

With a simple drizzle of olive oil, these two easy ingredients made a filling and fancy-tasting dinner.

Lentils with Shallots and Brown Rice

Vegan ~ Vegetarian ~ Simple

Ingredients

For the lentils

1 can cooked lentils

2 bay leaves

For the rice

1/2 cup brown rice

1- 1 1/4 cups water

2 small shallots, chopped

1 tsp. vegetable stock granules

olive oil

fresh black pepper

Method

Cook the rice according to package instructions along with the addition of the shallots and stock granules.

Warm the lentils and bay leaves over medium-low heat until the bay leaves become aromatic.

Plate the rice and lentils together, drizzle with olive oil and season with pepper to taste.

Tomorrow the Room Mums from my class are throwing a farewell party for the four children who are leaving our school at the end of the year.

One of the hardest parts about working in an international school is that families come and go quite easily. Parents are relocated for work and the kids are off to new lands. Although this is exciting and allows for so many wonderful learning opportunities, it’s also a bit sad.

Where I grew up, people rarely moved. The class roster was almost identical for 13 years.I graduated high school with almost all the same people that I went to kindergarten with.

My high school English teacher even taught my father.

Saying goodbye to children is really hard for me. I care so much for each and every child in my class, and the thought that I will probably never see them again breaks my heart.

Sorry for sounding like a stuck record, but deciding to receive a weekly CSA delivery is the smallest change, but it has yielded the largest difference.

I am now saving money on groceries, eating healthier, and experimenting with new recipes and produce.

All the while, I’m supporting businesses that I believe in.

A win-win situation.

Here’s how I make the best use of this service.

Before Wednesday of the delivery week, I visit my CSA’s online shopping center. There I can see what produce is planned to be included in my weekly vegetable box.

Usually I want everything that is scheduled, but sometimes there will be items that I either don’t want or already have left from the previous week’s delivery, take carrots cor example.

If I want all but one item, say carrots, I usually keep with the scheduled box but just edit my order to not include carrots.

I also have the option to choose a completely different box. Biolandgärtnerei Hüsgen offers 8 different pre-planned boxes for €12.50: Vegetable, Mother and Child, Fruit, Regional Produce,Raw Produce, Single, Quick Cooking, and Full Assortment boxes.

If I didn’t want any of the pre-arranged plans, I could create a Wish Box by choosing individual items from the online shop.

In addition to the organic produce boxes, their online shop offers almost any other product that can be found in a small organic grocery store. I usually add a box of 6 eggs from Hof Alpermühle.

Once my order is placed, I keep my eyes open for recipes that include the items I expect later in the week.

I usually plan my meals based on which food items spoil more quickly. The produce with a shorter life-span is cooked earlier in the week than the more resilient veggies. This leads to less waste and better quality.

On Friday, my box is delivered to my front door and the real fun begins!

Biolandgärtnerei Hüsgen makes it so simple to choose items and plan my weekly delivery. I rarely need to shop the regular grocery store and as a result, have saved a lot of money.

Although I’m pretty good at planning how to use my weekly veggies, there have been times when my fridge is about to burst with produce that needs to be used.

When this happens, I either make soup or stir fry.

My CSA Veggie Stir Fry is less of a recipe and more of a formula for using up any vegetables that linger in the crisper…

I adapted Jessica’s recipe a bit because maple syrup is so expensive in Germany. A 50/50 combination of maple syrup and golden syrup work really well together. I want to try maple syrup and agave nectar next.

Bowl full of fruit: watermelon, strawberries and a peach.

Coffee with soy milk in my Dutch mug.

Even though my life is less hectic with reports being finished, I’m not willing to give up this breakfast combination quite yet.